Teaching Elementary, My Dear Watson

27 - Soccer Begins

27

Soccer Begins

Monday, January 23

Miguel helped with plans for soccer tryouts because he was Kevin's only friend who grew up playing it. Soccer was the world's most popular sport, but that had never been true in America. No one Kevin knew played it when he was growing up. In America, the popularity of football, baseball, basketball, and even hockey surpassed it. But that was changing. As Kevin watched kids play soccer the last couple of years at Buena Vista, he could see parallels to basketball and other sports, which emphasized the value of passing and the importance of position defense. He liked that every player on the field was active and engaged during the game.

Kevin gathered his new soccer players together at lunch. They wore long pants in the cool January weather but didn't seem affected by the chill. He had spent three days the prior week testing boys and girls during tryouts. He checked their speed and quickness, as he had with football, but also their ball control skills, shooting accuracy, and more. There were a couple of pleasant surprises. A boy of half-Vietnamese ancestry had skills. Thang Smith said his first name meant "victory". Kevin hoped so and guessed that the father was tall since Thang was already 5'10" in sixth grade, quick, and coordinated. He could guide the ball downfield at full speed faster than most others on the team could run alongside him. Thang's family had just transferred from an American military base on Okinawa to start the new calendar year in California. Valle Grande's gain.

There were also a couple of Hispanic kids who were not new to the school but had tried out for no other teams so far. They were friends of Alfonso, all native Spanish speakers. Mexico was where they had learned soccer. It was the first and best sport for most immigrants. It might also be the only sport most of them played, but that didn't matter because they would help the team. Kevin was glad to have them. Welcome, Mexico. Teach us soccer! The boys have been cheering girls' wins so often, but maybe this time they'll be stronger. We'll see.

Watching the girls at soccer practice, Kevin felt like he had a family with them already. The core group remained the same. Graciela would likely be captain again. The girls respected her. No one held a grudge about the basketball no-show. Kevin assumed she had told her closest friends what she could never confide in him, and they supported her completely. A few Mexican-American girls were new, joining their first team all year for the same reason as some of the boys. But that would probably be true for some of their opponents too, all of whom drew from a large Hispanic population in their community.

Tuesday, January 24

During math, Art improved exponentially. He was now one of the leaders and even volunteered answers during the parts of the lessons where Kevin checked for understanding. But today, Art made a mistake as they reviewed a long division problem. He remembered the proper steps and actions, but miscalculated during two-place multiplication.

Brendan taunted, "Art made a mistake. Art made a mistake."

Art reacted before Kevin could intervene to give Brendan a consequence and keep things from escalating. "SHUT UP!" He had a large marble hidden in his coat, pulled it out of his pocket, and threw it at Brendan. The one-inch diameter translucent yellow orb missed Brendan's head by inches.

The class reacted. "Whoa!" "No!" "Phew." Fortunately, it hit a wall without damaging anyone or anything and rolled away. Kevin grabbed it.

He sighed and exhaled slowly. Shit. That was close. Dodged a bullet with that near miss. Glad the principal isn't observing me right now!

"Brendan, that will cost you fifteen minutes after school with me today. Art, that will be thirty minutes. Brendan, never criticize anyone here. Never. Art, you had every right to be upset. Brendan should not have said what he did. But we use our words here. What you did could have caused him serious damage. We will talk after school."